Utah!

[PoultryPedia]

Be so careful!!

You need to know if straw or hay bales have gotten wet (even if they have dried out since) because, if so, they very frequently will have live mold or spores from mold that died in them. I so recommend passing by any bedding you suspect may have been wet long enough (maybe a few days?) for mold to start in.

* Chickens can get fungal infections in their digestive tracts from eating parts of contaminated bedding, or food that has come into contact with it. If the chickens don't eat too much and are in strong health, their bodies may fight some or all of the infection off, but other times it can be devastating.
--- I have had 3 chickens die slowly from this cause.

* Chickens get a broad variety of their respiratory diseases from inhaled mold, spores or resulting toxins.
--- Right now, I'm trying out Oxine AH to fight mold in my temporary coop. It kills not only fungi but bacteria and viruses as well. I'm very grateful for it. If anyone may need it, I have been pulling together some info about Oxine AH on my (work-in-progress) Fungal Infections page at www.PoultryPedia.com.

Bales of hay or straw can pose particular danger partly because they can stay wet a long time in their tightly packed insides and REALLY foster mold growth.
Mold is sneaky.

Be very careful...

 

[Cynthia12]

Quote:
Gosh, sorry for both of ya!

I get a pinched nerve down my leg so I can feel the pain. Gets to where my toes are numb and ice cold. What I've found that has helped is a muscle relaxant at bed time, heating pad and elevating the leg. Several nights of this and it helps subside the pain until I tweak it again. Rinse, repeat.

Maybe we could place ads closer to halloween that we'd be willing to take the leftover pumpkins & straw. I'd love to have extras too for my girls!

my spine is just off, in 07 it was off by 65% and it has gotten worse. its hard for them to do x-rays because they have to peace it so much. have had mri's done before. yeah i have had my share of medical issues with the major ones being my back and heart but that is life i guess, just wish they could come later in life but it is what it is. around here people buy bales of straw for decorating and just toss it in the trash when they are done but that takes a lot of room in the can so if they can get rid of it in a easy and quick way they do it. a friend of mine just drives around after halloween in a truck and when he sees people taking down the decorations he will stop and offer to take the straw off their hands and they almost always do it and he has gone into neighborhoods and got a lot of straw, one time he got over 20 bales just driving in one neighborhood. for pumkins you can go to the stores and get ones that get broken or to old and offer to take them or even pay them 5 cents or so and most places will do it, now i have not done it but friends have. also people who use them to decorate will often just trash them so just look for that. i like free or very cheap stuff

So we are twins in the health area..also have heart issues..since I was in my 20's. I have had two heart ablations. Didn't work. Dr. doesn't dare go in and do any more though, says it may make it worse. I have so many different heart irregularities. So, neck, back, and heart, I have planter faciea right now..that's no fun! Life goes on, pain and all. I am currently waiting to see what the neuro wants to do with me...still! I had a nerve test that shows I have Brachial Pluxitis. Say what? I looked it up to know more. All I know is, that my discs are bad..and now this too..they are trying to decide if I need surgery. I would rather not have my neck fused!

Anyway, on the hay, sounds like a good idea, but I have to agree with Speckeledhills..it can be a worry about that mold. I try real hard to keep my coop dry. My DH built it pretty good, with a nice roof..keeps pretty dry when I have all of the doors and windows closed..which I do when it is a real blizzard going on out there, and that snow just blows every which way. My girls are content to stay in there when they hear that wind we get up here where we are in Spanish Fork.
I just may have to buy my girls a pumpkin for a treat. I found a place that is selling good sized pumpkins for a dollar each..that isn't too bad is it? I am also one to find/look for those deals!

 

[ElkMtnCove]

Quote:
That sounds like a great price - heck, I pay $1 for lettuce for them and that lasts about 60 seconds.

and my 2-cents on hay... not that you keep it around long but also look for any white dust that doesn't look like mold or smell like mold.

One year we purchased beautiful grass hay ($1,500 worth, 3+ hrs away and 3 trips to get). Fed a couple bales than just barn stored (dry, airy). I needed to feed a horse I pulled off pasture about a month later and noticed white powder (kinda looked like talcum powder). Hay completely green, no mold/bad smell, nothing. Took it to the vet for evaluation -- yup, under scope it WAS mold, just starting out.

Crappy farmer refused to believe us. Was able to recoup about 1/2 selling it as cow hay. Should hv taken seller to small claims but just moved on with life.

 

[the-bird-man]

yeah i am only 21 and have all these problems but that is life. when i get the straw i am very careful about it and if it has mold i just use it as mulch. next year i want to grow pumpkins in the back lawn because the way i see it is its less lawn care and i will get some good treats for the girls

and a dollar a pumpkin is very good! best price i have seen

how about all this weather? its raining hard here! i got a tarp over most of my run and i am so happy i did

i got rope lights to put in the coop too so me and the girls can have some more light

 

[darkroo]

Hello all, I’m hoping someone can help me out.

I need to replace 4 of my current 7 birds. I’ve got 4 black australorp that are just over a year old, they have worked their way up the pecking order and now are seriously abusing one of my elder (3 year old) bantams. I’m afraid that if I were to relocate the one bantam that they would just move on to my other bantam which is my favorite. What I’m hoping for is that someone would be able to swap three or four of their possibly more friendly chickens for my blacks. They are good birds, great layers and one of them has laid double yoke’s twice. There all half breeds but two of them are half bread with marens which lay tan eggs with a lot of burgundy spots the other two are less descript and lay tan eggs. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, thank you very much.

 

[ElkMtnCove]

Quote:
Dang, love to help you out as I have a quite a few sweet big girls, but someone or someone(S) been picking on a couple big girls of my own. They leave the little banties alone. I left just one small quail antwerp roo in the bunch cause he has a beak injury and has not accomplished much lady damage, so I'm guessing I have some Queen hens doing their thing.

If you only have 7 total, sounds like boredom? You might try putting up diversions. I found the wild birdseed bells (cheapest at Wally World) to work well, plus giving them extra space to roam (right now I use the hay barn). If you can free range for a couple hours that might help...I have some roos that live outside the coop so I can't. You can also try the usual hanging of lettuce, cabbage, etc.

Another reason for picking is a lack of calcium I believe. They go for the feathers as it contains whatever it is they need, weird as it seems. Besides free feeding calcium I put some in with the feed. Maybe this will help?

Good luck!

j.

 

[darkroo]

Thank you for your suggestions, but I think it is more a case of pay back than calcium deprived. They have free a choice calcium feeder available right next to their feeder. Princess the currently assaulted one was an upper status bird and would chase a younger offending bird around the yard for several minutes before allowing them to get away ((seriously) I thought it was the funniest thing that little tiny bird chasing another that was twice her size or more around the yard). But now it is quiet another thing what I’m talking about is an all out assault, one bird standing on top of her and the all four getting in their abuse. Princess lost her status this summer when she went broody for an extended period. I am talking about serious damage any time she leaves the coop they chase her down and pick her bloody! I’ve had to separate her twice so far to allow the damage to heal. This summer I did built a fence around their coop to confine them more, but for the most part I leave the gate open and they still have access of the most of back yard (they are not allowed in the vegetable garden). I believe that if they were attaching both of my little bantams the same way it wouldn’t be so personal. But it is an all out assault whenever Princess comes out of the coop or when I throw out some scratch for them they will run her to ground and peck her till she can get away. ???

 

[ElkMtnCove]

Quote:
Well that does sound personal, who knew chickens have this attitude? I've seen it in horses personally (was way ugly and lost my "golden princess" in the most horrific of all scenes) so I can sympathize.

You can't have roosters, correct? I have a cochin banty roo that breaks up all fights, even the roos. He won't tolerate it for some reason.

This little brat pack of yours needs to be reminded that we all have to play nice but I'm not sure how you do it. Here's just some thoughts, thinking maybe what I would try.... Take the queen bee, and if needed a few others and isolate them in individual cages, where they can't see each other. Garage, etc. Could even be small not too terribly coomfy cages, kinda shake them up. I would do it immediately after you catch them in the act (have everything ready) and they get purgatory for at least two wks. I wouldn't put them in sight or hearing distance of each other because of their "closeness", I'd wonder if they couldn't keep that up through "talking". You could start with just the queen and see if that solves the problem, if not start working your way down the list.

Then if you can, bring in one new big girl, when you're ready to put them all back together. Change things up in their coop (if you can) or even move it. Try making it all new surroundings so they can't try to lay claim to their old territory. The new big chicken will also be having to adjust and hopefully big girls will worry about big girls and leave the little ones alone.

Aside from that I would probably build a second coop to save the little girls.

Hopefully somone has more input. GL.

 

[the-bird-man]

in my flock i am the rooster, i show them treats, i break up fights and if i give them a look they will stop and if they dont i use my fingers and peck them. my girls know who is boss and they know i will not allow fighting. i have timeout cages that i can put them in and it drops them in the pecking order. the cage is just a wire cage with a wire floor, i leave it in the run because they can all see each other and i swear the other girls sit and laugh at them. i will even throw treats to the other girls while the girl who is being bad sits and watches them. yeah i know its a little mean but it teaches them to be good girls.

 

[ElkMtnCove]

Quote:
That sounds like a great plan!

I'm the rooster over my roo's too... if they even think about coming at me I go after them and yell about who really IS the boss and if they keep it up they won't be around. Good thing no one's around to see that!

I had a buff orp go broody and wasn't very nice when I tried to collect eggs. I started with a clean margarine cup and put over her head, then would pet her, collect eggs. After a bit I'd "peck her" with my finger if she tried to peck, then get above her head and rub her neck. Now I can just give her a little scratch, collect the eggs and tell her thanks. She goes on and off broody luckily.

The little black silky roo the young man asked about earlier may be coming here today. He tried hard to find him a good breeding home but there so many silky roos on KSL and this boy REALLY cares about his chickens. He got pecked while thanking a hen for her first egg and I won't tell the story because it's not mine but it could hv had a really bad ending (for him!)...yet he still loves his chickens. As I said before, our world would be so much better if there were more kids like him. Guess that's why I'm willing to take on a roo, help him out. (and after Betsy and all her crawlies I vowed off ever getting another adult chicken fm anyone)! He's a closed flock, first-timer so it should be good.

That being said, I'd take on crawlies again if it meant I could have Betsy back.